Noted

Good morning all.

We ended up with another glorious spring day yesterday despite the cloudy forecast. The eclipse was quite surreal as my computer sits in full sunshine at that time of day so I was sat with the sun on my back and the moons shadow shading the screen. It was actually too sunny to see the moon itself and I didn't have anything protective for my eyes so I basked in it instead lol.

A bit of upcycling/altering today...I won this  note block in a raffle recently and decided it was ripe for a bit of altering.

This is how it used to be...navy blue tacky plastic cover but a nice size and very sturdy. This is what it looks like now:

This is plan A...I started with plan B and painted the plastic with black gesso then used the brayer with various Fresco Finish paints but I didn't like it....so...

After removing the notepad I recovered the whole outer with adhesive canvas and painted it with gesso.  I then set to with a brayer and some Fresco Finish paints from Paper Artsy in first an opaque Mermaid then a translucent South Pacific. Peacock feathers DI was then sponged through a circles stencil from Memory Box before I stamped a chicken wire and word stamps from Artistic Stamper.

The bird on a branch is a stencil from Imagination Crafts and I've used two colours of Sparkle Medium. Noted is from Prima, metal doily and love plate were a recent purchase from China, butterfly charm from Splodgeaway and corners from Mucky Paws...these were all gessoed then sponged with peacock feathers DI. Feather and flower were from my stash.

I love how this turned out!

Challenges entered:

Mixed Media Monthly - birds of a feather

Our Creative Corner - junk in your trunk

Paper Artsy - deconstruction

Recycle, Re-Purpose & Re-Invent - anything goes

Mixed Media World - anything goes

Happy Birthday Brother

Good morning all.

Well the wanderer returned yesterday...he'd burned himself out and has come home for a rest!! He'd made it down to Dover but hadn't taken any time out to relax and since he was mostly wild camping he was up and about early every day moving on. Guess who'll be doing the washing today!!

I finally managed to finish a card yesterday which I'd started at the weekend!

This was a commissioned card for my brother's ex wife to give her brother. Image is from Bugaboo, coloured with promarkers. Papers are freebies from Jak Heath. Border punch from Martha Stewart. Brother die from Spellbinders. Happy birthday sentiment and banner die from Clearly Besotted. I've used a Swiss Dots EF on the sentiment (which was computer generated) to make it look like a golf ball. Finished with some charms from Splodgeaway and binders twine.

Inside has been decorated with a similar layout.

Challenges entered:

Crafting by Designs - masculine projects

Little Red Wagon - all tied up

Fan-Tastic Tuesday - anything goes, make it square

Passion for Promarkers - check it out

Party Time Tuesdays - anything goes

That Craft Place - add a charm

Sending Big Hugs

Good morning all.

A much needed visit to the beautician yesterday for some waxing and polishing - my beautician has been travelling in Thailand, Laos and Vietnam for 5 weeks so it's been a while!!

After seeing the lovely Becca's stencilled background here I had to give the technique a try. Here is the result:

I inked the die cut piece with DI inks in mustard seed, spiced marmalade and picked raspberry then using a stencil from Splodgeaway I inked over with black soot. Stitched dies are from Spellbinders. Stamp is from Indigo Blu and was a magazine freebie, stamped with black versafine then overstamped with a big and juicy sunset ink pad. Sending die is from Simon says Stamp cut once from waste card and once from the background and layered up. Sentiment is from STAMPlorations. Sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.

Challenges entered:

CASology - tropical

Happy Stamper's - sponging

Happy Stamper's - sketch

STAMPlorations - stamps and stencils

Muse Challenge - I was inspired by the pretty pattern in the background and bright cheerful colours

ShowCASe your Style - colour inspiration

Addicted to Stamping - photo inspiration

Addicted to CAS - distress

Making Moments Matter

Good morning all.

Making a little bit of headway with my journal and finally managed to do the front pages.

After painting the pages with gesso I stuck a few strips of torn paper and some washi tape on the right hand side. Textured paste was used on the sunrise stencil from Splodgeaway, after drying I coated both pages with gesso again. I used DI to ink the pages (tumbled glass and squeezed lemonade). Background stamps are from various sets and stamped with either peacock feathers DI or black archival ink. The three main sentiments are from Unity Stamps and have been stamped onto tissue paper. Celebrate is a die from Couture Creations. Numbers and hash are from Jellibean.

Under the numbers I've added some tissue printed with some Happy New Year music.

Challenges entered:

Unity Stamps - colour inspiration

Frosted Designs - get messy x 2

Our Creative Corner - tic tac toe (paints, stamps and stencils)

Simon Says Stamp - anything goes

Sweet Stamps - anything but a card

Simon Says Wednesday - add a little texture

Craft Stamper - take it make it stencils